8/4/06
Knoxville Raceway
360 Nationals Night #2
70 cars
Josh Higday (10th car out to time) became the first 360 driver in history to time in the 15 second bracket, setting the new track record at 15.991 seconds on the famous half. Brian Brown (30th car out) was second quick, followed by Larry Neighbors (5th), Dave Hall (8th), Luke Hall (19th), Sean McClelland (3rd), Jesse Giannetto (31st), Rick Ideus (12th), Dustin Lindquist (45th) and Brett Mather (34th). Again timing early was a big advantage on the quickly drying surface. Sean Walden didn't record a time after suffering torque tube problems. Jerry Brey and Rager Phillips managed one lap at the end after mechanical woes. The 136 cars competing in the event broke last year's record of 118.
Last Chance Heat one (started): 1. Ricky Logan A12 (2) 2. Brook Weibley 56x (3) 3. Tyler Thompson 11A (1) 4. BJ Fay 15x (4) 5. Herman Klein 5H (8) / 6. Sye Anderson 37 (7) 7. Brett Geldner 1B (9) 8. Nate Van Haaften 3 (7) 9. Abe Sherwood 44J (6) DNS - Eric Lutz 5
Those not making the top 50 in qualifications were forced to run the 8 lap LC heats where the top five transferred to the back of the C main. Logan led this one throughout in a mostly uneventful affair.
Last Chance Heat two (started): 1. Nick Smith 15s (1) 2. Tim Gee 4x (2) 3. Gary Fast 26 (5) 4. Robert Ballou 12 (7) 5. Jessica Zemken 1jz (9) / 6. Ryan Voss 2H (4) 7. Mike Sitzmann Jr. 92 (6) 8. Jerry Brey 17Jx (8) 9. Chris Schmelzle 57c (3) 10. Sean Walden 14v (10)
Walden exited after the green flew, and he performed a green light 360 in turn two. Schmelzle exited on lap three. N. Smith, who has led the ASCoT points for much of the season found himself shut out of the heats but led the distance in this one over former World of Outlaws regular, Gee, who was turning his first competitive laps at Knoxville since 1987. Zemken, who recently finished fifth with the National Sprint Tour in her home state of New York in only her second 410 outing, moved up nicely to take the final C main transfer.
Heat one (started): 1. Skip Jackson 2 (2) 2. Steve King 88 (1) 3. Jason Johnson 41 (3) 4. Higday 24 (6) / 5. Justin Zimmerman K9 (4) 6. McClelland 1 (5) 7. TJ Winegardner 11T (8) 8. Josh Schneiderman 49 (7) / 9. Danny Horner 75H (10) 10. Toby Chapman 84 (9)
Jackson led a mostly single-file affair flag to flag. The 8 lap event saw the top three pull away from the pack. An invert of six saw four transfer to the A, with the next four going to the B, and the final two going to the C.
Heat two (started): 1. Rager Phillips 9 (1) 2. Giannetto D1 (3) 3. Travis Rilat 29 (9) 4. Kevin Welsh 2w (5) / 5. Bryan Dobesh 2x (4) 6. Preston Peebles II 11P (2) 7. Kevin Ramey 7m (7) 8. Mike Brecht m20 (10) / 9. Danny Martin Jr. 00m (8) DQ (crossed 2nd, illegal D10 left rear tire) - Brown 21 (6)
Rilat was slated for the pole, but work area repairs relegated him to the rear for the start. Phillips inherited the pole and shot out to the early lead. Martin Jr. spun on lap four bringing caution. Phillips led Giannetto, Brown, Dobesh, Peebles and Rilat back to green. The slowdown was the tonic Rilat needed in his charge from the rear as he quickly disposed of Peebles and Dobesh to garner what he thought was the final transfer. Brown made a pass of Giannetto on the final go-around for second. It was all for naught as he was found to have an illegal left rear (D10) and was DQed. He headed to the C for what would be the charge of the year to date. Welsh snagged the final ticket to the A with the DQ.
Heat three (started): 1. Dustin Daggett 85 (2) 2. Jon Corbin 15 (4) 3. Ideus 5B (5) 4. Don Droud Jr. 2J (3) / 5. Matt Tiffany 19T (8) 6. Jake Martens 1x (9) 7. Troy Meyer 11m (10) 8. Matt Harms 53H (1) / 9. Neighbors 29N (6) 10. Dusty Zomer 1z (7)
Zomer had a good start, but tried to squeeze into too small a hole between Harms and the backstretch wall in a bid for fourth. The result saw him flipping down the chute. He was uninjured, but done for the night. Daggett led throughout when the event went green. Neighbors was running strong in a B main transfer before slowing on the white flag lap and allowing Harms to edge him out at the line. The result sent the third quick qualifier to the C to join Brown.
Heat four (started): 1. Chuck Swenson X (3) 2. Stacey Alexander 00 (2) 3. Billy Alley 1m (4) 4. Lindquist 55L (5) / 5. Garry Lee Maier 11x (9) 6. D. Hall 51 (6) 7. Joe Wood Jr. 03 (7) 8. Dustin Selvage 7 (1) / 9. Natalie Sather 94s (10) 10. Lee Sowell 51s (8)
Swenson jumped out to an early lead as the scramble for second commenced. Sowell was up to battle for fourth on a couple of occasions, before tagging the backstretch wall hard and spinning while running fifth on lap four. The restart saw Swenson leading S. Alexander, Alley, Lindquist and Selvage. Maier entered the party for the final transfer, but didn't have enough for Lindquist.
Heat five (started): 1. Dave Glennon 5x (2) 2. Dale Howard 47 (4) 3. Mike Chadd 4 (7) 4. Mather 54 (5) / 5. Seith Brahmer 13 (9) 6. L. Hall 34 (6) 7. Josh Riggins 14J (8) 8. Gene Lasker 02 (1) / 9. Ben Rutan 23x (10) 10. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (3)
Glennon led early and was clearly the fastest machine in this one. On lap five, Houseman spun bringing caution. Glennon led Howard, Lasker, Mather and Chadd back to green. Chad impressed from there on out capturing third after missing the heat invert of six. On lap seven, Rutan and Lasker contacted, sending Rutan upside down and uninjured.
C main (started): 1. B. Brown (1) 2. Neighbors (2) / 3. Sowell (4) 4. Horner (6) 5. N. Smith (8) 6. Gee (10) 7. Chapman (7) 8. Weibley (13) 9. Ballou (14) 10. Fast (12) 11. Houseman (3) 12. Sather (9) 13. Logan (11) 14. Martin Jr. (5) 15. Klein (18) 16. Fay (17) 17. Zemken (16) 18. Thompson (15) DNS - Zomer, Rutan
Brown decimated the field winning by almost 5 seconds over Neighbors in the non-stop ten lapper. Neighbors held off the valiant effforts of Sowell and Horner for the final B main transfer.
B main (started): 1. D. Hall (1) 2. B. Brown (19) 3. L. Hall (2) 4. McClelland (3) / 5. Zimmerman (4) 6. Schneiderman (10) 7. Maier (15) 8. Dobesh (5) 9. Ramey (13) 10. Neighbors (21) 11. Selvage (8) 12. Tiffany (11) 13. T. Meyer (20) 14. Peebles (6) 15. Martens (16) 16. Harms (7) 17. Wood Jr. (9) 18. Brahmer (18) 19. Riggins (14) 20. Brecht (17) 21. Winegardner (12) DNS - Lasker
D. Hall led the 12 lap distance, but the excitement raged behind him as Neighbors, B. Brown, Maier and Ramey were moving forward in the pack. The stakes were high as only the top four tagged the tail of the A. On lap four, Winegardner contacted with Peebles, sending the 11T upside down. He was uninjured. All eyues were on Brown, who restarted in ninth. Using all parts of the tracks he sliced and diced his way forward, until he had a transfer. He did not rest there, grabbing second on the last lap. Brecht bowed out on lap nine.
A main (started): 1. Alley (2) 2. B. Brown (20) 3. Lindquist (5) 4. J. Johnson (9) 5. Giannetto (7) 6. Rilat (16) 7. Higday (8) 8. Howard (1) 9. King (17) 10. Droud (11) 11. Ideus (6) 12. Swenson (12) 13. Glennon (14) 14. Phillips (24) 15. Jackson (13) 16. D. Hall (21) 17. L. Hall (23) 18. S. Alexander (15) 19. Chadd (18) 20. McClelland (22) 21. Welsh (19) 22. Daggett (14) 23. Mather (4) 24. Corbin (3)
Phillips was slated to start 10th but was relegated to the rear after a visit to the work area. Alley shot out to a commanding lead early over Howard, who had his hands full with Lindquist. Corbin flipped in turn one on lap 13 while running sixth, bringing caution. Alley led Lindquist, Howard, Giannetto, J. Johnson and a surging B. Brown back to green flag racing. Two laps later, Howard and Mather contacted, sending the latter upside down and done for the night. B. Brown moved up three spots in those two laps and restarted third behind Alley and Lindquist. On the restart, B. Brown battled with Lindquist and took second. A final caution set the stage for B. Brown, but he had nothing for the two-time and defending 360 Nationals champ. B. Brown's heroics will be remembered for quite a time.